In my early years of designing and facilitating programs, I thought my role included controlling meetings. I took responsibility for whether groups started at the agreed-upon time, how people behaved in meetings, and whether or not we achieved the desired outcomes. This approach automatically set me up to be in opposition with many participants. I was taking responsibility for work that was not mine to do in the first place, inadvertently creating “difficult” (that is, frustrated) participants by stepping over people’s boundaries.

Some nice reflections on the role of a facilitator. I don’t think there’s any way to overstate the importance of the idea of finding ‘one less thing to do’.